The events that happen in this story are different in comparison to what really happened in the original manga for story-telling purposes. Few similarities remain however. All credits go to Tadatoshi Fujimaki except for the plot of Vanilla Milkshakes.
*Aomine may seem OOC but that's because this story takes place before he reached his "the only one who can beat me, is me" phase.
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"Naa, Kuroko. Why do you like those vanilla milkshakes so much anyway?" Kagami asked with a hamburger stuffed in his mouth.
Said person stared at him with his usual blank eyes. It was rather late in the afternoon, almost bordering evening. Seirin had another late practice since they had a practice match coming up the following week. Tired and extremely hungry, Kagami suggested to go out and eat at Maji Burger. Of course, he had ordered a mountain of burgers while his shadow had only ordered a single vanilla milkshake.
Kuroko glanced out the window and thought of a way to answer him. Then he remembered a bittersweet memory from long ago.
The first time Kuroko and Aomine had met was in the autumn of their first year at Teiko Middle School. Aomine was a first-string member whereas Kuroko was in the third-string at the time. Their meeting could almost be called destined since it took place one night in an empty gym. Call it God playing the romantic once in a while. While Kuroko was finishing off his late night practice, Aomine had slid the gym door open to investigate the rumor of a ghost playing in this certain area.
"Aomine-kun!" Kuroko called in surprise at the rumored Miracle behind him.
Aomine looked back at him perplexed, "Yeah, that's me. How do you know my name? Wait- who are you?"
"Ah. I'm Kuroko Tetsuya. It's nice to meet you."
From there, the two boys had talked and joked a lot. Although the gym was big, empty and mostly dark, there was a comfortable atmosphere that the two players shared. Aomine became more and more interested in Kuroko while the other was just surprised that he was talking to such a famous person like Aomine.
"So you're practicing by yourself, huh? That's pretty amazing. Not many of the guys in the first-string would commit themselves like that." Aomine complimented genuinely.
Kuroko looked at the basketball in his hands and smiled absentmindedly, "Since I'm only in the third-string, I have to work even harder to catch up with everyone in the first and second-string."
Aomine hummed at him. Getting up, he brushed the dust off his shorts and held his hand out, "You don't mind if I practice with you then, do you?" Kuroko looked up at the taller boy with sparkling eyes.
"Hai!" Taking hold of his hand, he got up and nodded, "Then, please prepare yourself."
A shiver of excitement went up Aomine's spine as he got into position, "Yeah! Come at me!"
There was slight tension in the air as Kuroko began dribbling. Seconds seemed painfully long for Aomine as he was trying to anticipate Kuroko's next move. Finally, he shot forward.
Kuroko managed to dribble around Aomine. Not expecting to be passed so easily, Aomine shot out a hand to reach for the ball behind him. He was grinning madly - the thrill of playing against someone who was his equal made him elated. However, before his fingers could even come within close proximity of it, the ball bounced off Kuroko's knee.
The shadow made a slight grunt of pain. Making exaggerated hand gestures, Aomine looked at the smaller boy in disbelief, "What was that!? I thought you were something great since you told me to prepare myself!"
